The present invention relates to disposable garments used to catch body fluids or excretions and more particularly to such disposable garments provided with a plurality of flaps longitudinally extending side by side along laterally opposite sides of the garments and normally biased by their own elastic shrinking potential to turn up.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,278 (referred to hereinafter as the first prior art) discloses garments such as disposable diapers comprising a liquid-permeable inner sheet, a liquid-impermeable outer sheet, a liquid-absorptive core sandwiched between these sheet, a pair of base flaps (i.e., gasket cuffs) extending outward from laterally opposite side edges of said core and provided with elastic members, respectively, and a second pair of flaps (i.e., barrier cuffs) having root edges on areas of the respective base flaps extending inwardly from the respective elastic members and normally biased by elastic members mounted along free edges of the respective second flaps to turn up along said root edges. Said base flaps are pressed against respective thighs of the wearer. Said second pair of flaps are fixed at longitudinally opposite end with said ends being collapsed inward and with intermediate portions being biased by their own elastic shrinking potential to turn up and thereby free edges of these intermediate portions being pressed against roots of the wearer's thighs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,251 (referred to hereinafter as the second prior art) discloses disposable diapers comprising a liquid-permeable inner sheet, a liquid-impermeable outer sheet, a liquid-absorptive core sandwiched between these sheets, a pair of base flaps extending outward from laterally opposite side edges of said core, and a second pair of flaps having root edges on the upper surfaces of the respective base flaps and normally biased by elastic members mounted along their free edges to turn up along the respective root edges. Said second pair of flaps are fixed at longitudinally opposite ends with said ends being collapsed outward and with intermediate portions being biased by their own elastic shrinking potential to turn up and thereby free edges of these intermediate portions being pressed against roots of the wearer's thighs.
Initially, said first prior art will be considered.
Said base flaps have a rather planer configuration and are curved under the effect of their own elastic shrinking potential but insufficiently to fit around the thighs and thereby to prevent excretions from leaking out, as has usually been the case with the flaps of the conventional disposable diapers.
In order that the pockets defined by said second pair of flaps adapted to be pressed against the thigh roots of the wearer can adequately opened and reliably catch excretions, it is essential that the free edges of the respective second flaps should be always stabilized against the thighs' roots of the wearer. However, the first prior art discloses neither width dimensioning nor stiffness adjustment for each second flap required to achieve such ideal fitness.
The free edges of the second flaps must be always stabilized against the roots of the wearer's thighs as has been mentioned above, but the pressure at which the second flaps are pressed against the thighs' roots are too high so that wearing of this prior art for a relatively long period will result in a pressure mark on the wearer's skin and pain.
Said second prior art will be considered.
Said base flaps have no elastic shrinkability and therefore can not be elastically pressed against the wearer's thighs for positive prevention of excretions leakage. Certainly, the second pair of flaps have such function, but, in view of the position at which each second flap is pressed against the wearer's body, these second flaps correspond to the base flaps of the first prior art. In other words, the second prior art has no members corresponding to the second flaps of the first prior art.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide disposable garments so improved to solve the above-mentioned problem encountered by the first and second prior arts by providing members corresponding to the second flaps of the first and second prior arts and setting tensile stress, width and stiffness of the members corresponding to the second flaps of the first prior art to optimized levels.